Month: October 2018

As we enter into the winter months and the changing of the seasons it got me to wondering about “change” and how it impacts us. Change can be scary, fun, exciting and terrifying all at the same time. Do any of us like to change? I propose to you… if we don’t embrace change, we don’t grow personally. Change is something I’m not a big fan of but it is mandatory if I want to become the person who I want to be. Genuine, loving, self-reliant and all those characteristics I admire.

Something that is not recognized by many in the civilian world is that our First Responders as a whole are more psychologically healthy than the general population at the time of hiring. How can I say this? Well, very few careers require the psychological screening and assessment that First Responders have to pass in order to obtain their job.

In doing such a screening, the hope is to protect the public from someone who is unsafe, but the hidden benefit is to hopefully protect the individual doing the job from many of the psychological disorders that can develop from this type of work. So, if we use the premise that First Responders are more psychologically healthy than their civilian counterpart, why are we seeing the psychological problems we are seeing within First Responders? Problems like substance abuse, high divorce rates and suicide? Theoretically, this should not be happening, but it is rampant. Why?

There is one common theme that is presented to me over and over as I travel around the country for Safe Call Now… “I can handle everything on the streets but my ‘Administration’ is killing me… literally.” If you’re an administrator reading this, please take note, your own are reporting that you are taking their lives. Did you know by the year 2020 one of the top workplace disabilities will be anxiety and depression??? Where is this is coming from, the studies indicate it may be from you… The number one concern from the “boots” on the ground that is told to me is that words do not match actions which leads to a double standard. This is an unhealthy balance in boundaries and ego states, I’ll go into this later.